Achieving High-Performance Na3V2(PO4)2F3 Cathode Material through a Bifunctional N-Doped Carbon Network.

Na3V2(PO4)2F3 (NVPF) is emerging as a popular cathode for sodium-ion batteries owing to its stable structure, high operating voltage, and large energy density. However, its practical application is hindered by its low conductivity. In addition, due to the loss of fluorine during synthesis, Na3V2(PO4)3 (NVP) impurity is often easily generated, resulting in a decrease in actual operating voltage. Herein, a bifunctional carbon network composed of an N-doped carbon layer and carbon bridge is constructed around NVPF particles. Through pyrolysis of polydopamine (PDA), the NVPF particles are covered in situ by an N-doped carbon layer, and the carbon bridge generated by polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is also coated with N-doped carbon. Besides, PTFE also serves as a fluorine supplement to ensure that pure NVPF is obtained. As a result, the bifunctional N-doped carbon network-modified NVPF delivers a high reversible capacity (125.7 mA h g-1 at 0.2 C) and appreciable cycle stability (92.7% at 1 C over 300 cycles, and 89.8% at 10 C over 1500 cycles). When assembled into a full cell with a commercial hard carbon anode, it displays a discharge median voltage of up to 3.62 V at 0.2 C. Furthermore, it achieves a high energy density of 373.7 W h kg-1 at a power density of 461.2 W kg-1, with an excellent specific energy retention of 78.2% after 200 cycles. Therefore, this modification method is expected to be extended to other fluorine-containing materials with poor electrical conductivity.

Van der Waals Magnetic Electrode Transfer for Two-Dimensional Spintronic Devices.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials are promising candidates for spintronic applications. Maintaining their atomically smooth interfaces during integration of ferromagnetic (FM) electrodes is crucial since conventional metal deposition tends to induce defects at the interfaces. Meanwhile, the difficulties in picking up FM metals with strong adhesion and in achieving conductance match between FM electrodes and spin transport channels make it challenging to fabricate high-quality 2D spintronic devices using metal transfer techniques. Here, we report a solvent-free magnetic electrode transfer technique that employs a graphene layer to assist in the transfer of FM metals. It also serves as part of the FM electrode after transfer for optimizing spin injection, which enables the realization of spin valves with excellent performance based on various 2D materials. In addition to two-terminal devices, we demonstrate that the technique is applicable for four-terminal spin valves with nonlocal geometry. Our results provide a promising future of realizing 2D spintronic applications using the developed magnetic electrode transfer technique.

Cilta-cel, a BCMA-targeting CAR-T therapy for patients with multiple myeloma.

INTRODUCTION: Ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel), a BCMA-targeting CAR-T therapy, is approved in the United States and Europe for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) and ≥1 prior line of therapy (LOT), including a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory drug, and are lenalidomide refractory. AREAS COVERED: We examine recent long-term data in heavily pretreated RRMM (LEGEND-2, CARTITUDE-1) and earlier LOTs (CARTITUDE-4) compared with standard therapy and discuss the rationale for investigating cilta-cel as frontline therapy for transplant-eligible and transplant-ineligible patients (CARTITUDE-5, CARTITUDE-6). EXPERT OPINION: CAR-T therapies can improve outcomes for patients with MM across different LOTs. CARTITUDE-1 and CARTITUDE-4 have set a new bar for efficacy, with median PFS of 34.9 months in heavily pretreated patients (CARTITUDE-1) and a 74% relative risk reduction for progression/death versus standard care in patients with 1-3 prior LOTs (CARTITUDE-4), with manageable safety. Response rates were consistent between the two studies: 98% in CARTITUDE-1 and approaching 100% for infused patients in CARTITUDE-4. Cilta-cel could be a key treatment choice for patients with RRMM after first LOT. Clinical trials investigating frontline cilta-cel therapy will provide valuable insights into optimizing treatment pathways with the aim to potentially cure MM.

Hollow Layered Iron-Based Prussian Blue Cathode with Reduced Defects for High-Performance Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Fe-based Prussian blue (Fe-PB) analogues have emerged as promising cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries, owing to their cost-effectiveness, high theoretical capacity, and environmental friendliness. However, their practical application is hindered by [Fe(CN)6] defects, negatively impacting capacity and cycle stability. This work reports a hollow layered Fe-PB composite material using 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid (BTA) as a chelating and etching agent by the hydrothermal method. Compared to benzoic acid, our approach significantly reduces defects and enhances the yield of Fe-PB. Notably, the hollow layered structure shortens the diffusion path of sodium ions, enhances the activity of low-spin Fe in the Fe-PB lattice, and mitigates volume changes during Na-ion insertion/extraction into/from Fe-PB. As a sodium-ion battery cathode, this hollow layered Fe-PB exhibits an impressive initial capacity of 95.9 mAh g-1 at a high current density of 1 A g-1. Even after 500 cycles, it still maintains a considerable discharge capacity of 73.1 mAh g-1, showing a significantly lower capacity decay rate (0.048%) compared to the control sample (0.089%). Moreover, the full cell with BTA-PB-1.6 as the cathode and HC as the anode provides a considerable energy density of 312.2 Wh kg-1 at a power density of 291.0 W kg-1. This research not only enhances the Na storage performance of Fe-PB but also increases the yield of products obtained by hydrothermal methods, providing some technical reference for the production of PB materials using the low-yield hydrothermal method.

Achieving High Rate and Long Cycle Performance of Na2FePO4F Cathode Through Co-Modification of Ti Doping and Carbon Coating.

Layered Na2FePO4F (NFPF) cathode material has received widespread attention due to its green nontoxicity, abundant raw materials, and low cost. However, its poor inherent electronic conductivity and sluggish sodium ion transportation seriously impede its capacity delivery and cycling stability. In this work, NFPF by Ti doping and conformal carbon layer coating via solid-state reaction is modified. The results of experimental study and density functional theory calculations reveal that Ti doping enhances intrinsic conductivity, accelerates Na-ion transport, and generates more Na-ion storage sites, and pyrolytic carbon from polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) uniformly coated on the NFPF surface improves the surface/interface conductivity and suppresses the side reactions. Under the combined effect of Ti doping and carbon coating, the optimized NFPF (marked as 5T-NF@C) exhibits excellent electrochemical performance, with a high capacity of 108.4 mAh g-1 at 0.2C, a considerable capacity of 80.0 mAh g-1 even at high current density of 10C, and a high capacity retention rate of 81.8% after 2000 cycles at 10C. When assembled into a full cell with a hard carbon anode, 5T-NF@C also show good applicability. This work indicates that co-modification of Ti doping and carbon coating makes NFPF achieve high rate and long cycle performance for sodium-ion batteries.

Molecular layer modulation of two-dimensional organic ferroelectric transistors.

Ferroelectric transistors hold great potential in low consumption devices. Due to the high film quality and clean system, two dimensional organic semiconductors are widely employed to fabricate high performance organic electronic devices and explore the modulation mechanism of the molecular packing on device performance. Here, we combine the ferroelectric hafnium oxide HfZrOxand two-dimensional molecular crystal 2,9-didecyldinaphtho[2,3-b:2',3'-f]thieno[3,2b]thiophene (C10-DNTT) with controllable layers to study the molecular layer modulation of ferroelectric organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs). The contact resistance, driving current and transconductance are directly affected by the additional access resistance across the upper molecular layers at the source/drain contact region. Simultaneously, the capacitance of Schottky junction related to the molecular layer thickness could effectively adjust the gate potential acting on the organic channel, further controlling the devices' subthreshold swing and transconductance efficiency. This work would promote the development of low voltage and high performance OTFTs.

Revealing the key role of molecular packing on interface spin polarization at two-dimensional limit in spintronic devices.

Understanding spinterfaces between magnetic metals and organic semiconductors is essential to unlock the great potentials that organic materials host for spintronic applications. Although plenty of efforts have been devoted to studying organic spintronic devices, exploring the role of metal/molecule spinterfaces at two-dimensional limit remains challenging because of excessive disorders and traps at the interfaces. Here, we demonstrate atomically smooth metal/molecule interfaces through nondestructively transferring magnetic electrodes on epitaxial grown single-crystalline layered organic films. Using such high-quality interfaces, we investigate spin injection of spin-valve devices based on organic films of different layers, in which molecules are packed in different manners. We find that the measured magnetoresistance and the estimated spin polarization increase markedly for bilayer devices compared with their monolayer counterparts. These observations reveal the key role of molecular packing on spin polarization, which is supported by density functional theory calculations. Our findings provide promising routes toward designing spinterfaces for organic spintronic devices.

Modifying the Power and Performance of 2-Dimensional MoS2 Field Effect Transistors.

Over the past 60 years, the semiconductor industry has been the core driver for the development of information technology, contributing to the birth of integrated circuits, Internet, artificial intelligence, and Internet of Things. Semiconductor technology has been evolving in structure and material with co-optimization of performance-power-area-cost until the state-of-the-art sub-5-nm node. Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors are recognized by the industry and academia as a hopeful solution to break through the quantum confinement for the future technology nodes. In the recent 10 years, the key issues on 2D semiconductors regarding material, processing, and integration have been overcome in sequence, making 2D semiconductors already on the verge of application. In this paper, the evolution of transistors is reviewed by outlining the potential of 2D semiconductors as a technological option beyond the scaled metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors. We mainly focus on the optimization strategies of mobility (µ), equivalent oxide thickness (EOT), and contact resistance (RC ), which enables high ON current (Ion ) with reduced driving voltage (Vdd ). Finally, we prospect the semiconductor technology roadmap by summarizing the technological development of 2D semiconductors over the past decade.

Phase II, Open-Label Study of Ciltacabtagene Autoleucel, an Anti-B-Cell Maturation Antigen Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T-Cell Therapy, in Chinese Patients With Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma (CARTIFAN-1).

PURPOSE: CARTIFAN-1 aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel), a B-cell maturation antigen-targeting chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, in Chinese patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). METHODS: This pivotal phase II, open-label study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03758417), conducted across eight sites in China, enrolled adult patients with RRMM who had received ≥ 3 lines of prior therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor and immunomodulatory drug. Patients received a single infusion of cilta-cel (target dose 0.75 × 106 chimeric antigen receptor-positive viable T cells/kg). The primary end point was overall response rate. Secondary end points included progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and incidence and severity of adverse events (AEs). RESULTS: As of the clinical cutoff of July 19, 2021, 48 patients received a cilta-cel infusion. At an 18-month median follow-up, the overall response rate was 89.6% (95% CI, 77.3 to 96.5), with a median time to first response of approximately 1 month; 77.1% of patients (95% CI, 62.7 to 88.0) achieved complete response or better. Medians for duration of response, PFS, and OS were not reached. The 18-month PFS and OS rates were 66.8% (95% CI, 49.4 to 79.4) and 78.7% (95% CI, 64.0 to 88.0), respectively. Hematologic AEs were common, including anemia (100%), neutropenia (97.9%), lymphopenia (95.8%), and thrombocytopenia (87.5%). Cytokine release syndrome occurred in 97.9% of patients (35.4% grade 3/4); the median time to onset was 7 days, and the median duration was 5 days. Infections occurred in 85.4% of patients (37.5% grade 3/4). Ten deaths occurred after cilta-cel infusion, eight of which were due to treatment-related AEs. CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate a favorable risk-benefit profile for a single infusion of cilta-cel, resulting in early, deep, and durable responses in heavily pretreated patients with RRMM in China.

Ciltacabtagene autoleucel in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma: CARTITUDE-1 (phase 2) Japanese cohort.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells targeting B-cell maturation antigen have shown positive responses in patients with multiple myeloma (MM). The phase 2 portion of the CARTITUDE-1 study of ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel) included a cohort of Japanese patients with relapsed/refractory MM. Following a conditioning regimen of cyclophosphamide (300 mg/m2 ) and fludarabine (30 mg/m2 ), patients received a single cilta-cel infusion at a target dose of 0.75 × 106 (range, 0.5-1.0 × 106 CAR-positive viable T cells/kg). The primary endpoint was overall response rate (ORR; defined as partial response or better) by International Myeloma Working Group criteria. A key secondary endpoint was the rate of very good partial response (VGPR) or better (defined as VGPR, complete response, stringent complete response). This first analysis was performed at 6 months after the last patient received cilta-cel. Thirteen patients underwent apheresis, nine of whom received cilta-cel infusion. Eight patients who received cilta-cel at the target dose responded, yielding an ORR of 100%. Seven of eight (87.5%) patients achieved a VGPR or better. One additional patient who received a below-target dose of cilta-cel also achieved a best response of VGPR. MRD negativity (10-5 threshold) was achieved in all six evaluable patients. Eight of nine (88.9%) patients who received cilta-cel infusion experienced a grade 3 or 4 adverse event, and eight (88.9%) patients experienced cytokine release syndrome (all grade 1 or 2). No CAR-T cell neurotoxicity was reported. A positive benefit/risk profile for cilta-cel was established for heavily pretreated Japanese patients with relapsed or refractory MM.

Targeted Surface Doping with Reversible Local Environment Improves Oxygen Stability at the Electrochemical Interfaces of Nickel-Rich Cathode Materials.

Elemental doping represents a prominent strategy to improve interfacial chemistry in battery materials. Manipulating the dopant spatial distribution and understanding the dynamic evolution of the dopants at the atomic scale can inform better design of the doping chemistry for batteries. In this work, we create a targeted hierarchical distribution of Ti4+, a popular doping element for oxide cathode materials, in LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2 primary particles. We apply multiscale synchrotron/electron spectroscopy and imaging techniques as well as theoretical calculations to investigate the dynamic evolution of the doping chemical environment. The Ti4+ dopant is fully incorporated into the TMO6 octahedral coordination and is targeted to be enriched at the surface. Ti4+ in the TMO6 octahedral coordination increases the TM-O bond length and reduces the covalency between (Ni, Mn, Co) and O. The excellent reversibility of Ti4+ chemical environment gives rise to superior oxygen reversibility at the cathode-electrolyte interphase and in the bulk particles, leading to improved stability in capacity, energy, and voltage. Our work directly probes the chemical environment of doping elements and helps rationalize the doping strategy for high-voltage layered cathodes.

Enhanced polarization photodetection of metallic cavity ensemble through spontaneously configured lateral electrodes.

Metallic cavities show substantial advantages in light confinement, providing opportunities to modulate the optical resonances and absorption. Here, we report on the configuration of horizontally aligned ZnO-nanowires-based metallic cavity ensemble with a light to dark current ratio of ∼1000. An enhanced polarization photodetection ratio of transverse electric (TE) to transverse magnetic (TM) was experimentally observed compared to the single ZnO nanowire photodetector. Finite difference time domain simulation was performed on the metallic cavities, showing the distinct resonance behaviors under TE and TM light. The confinement by the multi-reflection and optical resonances between the metallic claddings contribute to the high anisotropy ratio. Furthermore, the polarized light absorption in the metallic cavity was studied as well as in the naked nanowire, which reveal a significant dependence on the cavity diameter and wavelength. For the metallic cavities, the absorption ratio of TE to TM show an enhanced value in the range of 300-500 nm wavelength and 85-150 diameter and a reversed value in the range of 400-500 nm wavelength and 17-50 diameter. While for the naked nanowires, the ratio show an apparently opposite value in these two regions. The presented metallic cavities demonstrate a specific paradigm of optical engineering in nanoscale and potentially helps the development of optoelectronic devices.

High-Voltage All-Solid-State Na-Ion-Based Full Cells Enabled by All NASICON-Structured Materials.

Na super ionic conductor (NASICON)-structured materials have evolved to play many critical roles in battery systems because of their three-dimensional framework structures. Here, by coupling NASICON-structured Na3V2(PO4)2O2F cathodes and Na3V2(PO4)3 anodes, an asymmetric Na-ion-based full cell exhibits two flat voltage plateaus at about 2.3 and 1.9 V and a high capacity of 101 mA h/g. Moreover, an all-solid-state Na-ion battery has been further enabled by the concept of using all NASICON-structured materials, including cathodes, anodes, and electrolytes (Na5YSi4O12), which delivers a high output voltage. Importantly, the full cell displays high safety without using a flammable organic liquid electrolyte and superior structure stability with all NASICON-structured materials.

Perovskite and Conjugated Polymer Wrapped Semiconducting Carbon Nanotube Hybrid Films for High-Performance Transistors and Phototransistors.

Although organic-inorganic halide perovskites continue to generate considerable interest due to great potentials for various optoelectronic devices, there are some critical obstacles to practical applications, including lead toxicity, relatively low field-effect mobility, and strong hysteresis during operation. This paper proposes a universal approach to significantly improve mobility and operational stability with reduced dual-sweep hysteresis for perovskite-based thin film transistors (TFTs) by coupling low-dimensional lead-free perovskite material (C6H5C2H4NH3)2SnI4 (hereafter abbreviated as (PEA)2SnI4) with embedded conjugated polymer wrapped semiconducting carbon nanotubes (semi-CNTs). In (PEA)2SnI4/semi-CNT hybrid TFTs, semi-CNTs can provide highway-like transport paths, enabling smoother carrier transport with less trapping and scattering. We also demonstrate the performance of (PEA)2SnI4/semi-CNT hybrid phototransistors with ultrahigh photoresponsivity ( R) of 6.3 × 104 A/W and detectivity ( D*) of 1.12 × 1017 Jones, which is about 2 or 3 orders of magnitude higher than that of the best devices available to date. The results indicate promising potentials for solution-processed perovskite/semi-CNT hybrid platforms, and the developed strategy can be applied for high-performance perovskite nanomaterial optoelectronics.

Toward a Stable Sodium Metal Anode in Carbonate Electrolyte: A Compact, Inorganic Alloy Interface.

Development of the next-generation, high-energy-density, low-cost batteries will likely be fueled by sodium (Na) metal batteries because of their high capacity and the abundance of Na. However, their practical application is significantly plagued by the hyper-reactivity of Na metal, unstable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), and dendritic Na growth, leading to continuous electrolyte decomposition, low Coulombic efficiency, large impedance, and safety concerns. Herein, we add a small amount of SnCl2 additive in a common carbonate electrolyte so that the spontaneous reaction between SnCl2 and Na metal enables in situ formation of a Na-Sn alloy layer and a compact NaCl-rich SEI. Benefitting from this design, rapid interfacial ion transfer is realized and direct exposure of Na metal to the electrolyte is prohibited, which jointly achieve a nondendritic deposition morphology and a markedly reduced voltage hysteresis in a Na/Na symmetric cell for over 500 h. The Na/SnCl2-added electrolyte/Na3V2(PO4)3 full cell exhibits high capacity retention over cycling and excellent rate capability (101 mAh/g at 10 C). This work can provide an easily scalable and cost-effective approach for developing high-performance Na-metal batteries.

Atomically thin van der Waals tunnel field-effect transistors and its potential for applications.

Power dissipation is a crucial problem as the packing density of transistors increases in modern integrated circuits. Tunnel field-effect transistors (TFETs), which have high energy filtering provided by band-to-band tunneling (BTBT), have been proposed as an alternative electronics architecture to decrease the energy loss in bias operation and to achieve steep switching at room temperature. Very recently, the BTBT behavior has been demonstrated in van der Waals heterostructures by using unintentionally doped semiconductors. The reason of the BTBT formation is attributed to a significant band bending near the heterointerface, resulting in carrier accumulations. In this work, to investigate charge transport in type-III transistors, we adopted the same band-bending concept to fabricate van der Waals BP/MoS2 heterostructures. Through analyzing the temperature dependence of their electrical properties, we carefully ruled out the contribution of metal-semiconductor contact resistances and improved our understanding of carrier injection in 2D type-III transistors. The BP/MoS2 heterostructures showed both negative differential resistance and 1/f 2 current fluctuations, strongly demonstrating the BTBT operation. Finally, we also designed a TFET based on this heterostructure with an ionic liquid gate, and this TFET demonstrated an subthreshold slope can successfully surmount the thermal limit of 60 mV/decade. This work improves our understanding of charge transport in such layered heterostructures and helps to improve the energy efficiency of next-generation nanoscale electronics.

Doping: A Key Enabler for Organic Transistors.

Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) are the central building blocks of organic electronics, but still suffer from low performance and manufacturing difficulties. This is due in part to the absence of doping, which is mostly excluded from OFET applications for the concern about uncontrollable dopant diffusion. Doping enabled the modern semiconductor industry to build essential components like Ohmic contacts and P-N junctions, empowering devices to function as designed. Recent breakthroughs in organic semiconductors and doping techniques demonstrated that doping can also be a key enabler for high-performance OFETs. However, the knowledge of organic doping remains limited particularly for OFET use. Therefore, this review addresses OFET doping from a device perspective. The paper overviews doping basics and roles in advanced complementary technologies. These fundamentals help to understand why and how doping provides the desired transistor characteristics. Typical OFETs without doping are discussed, with consideration for operating principle and problems caused by the absence of doping. Achievements for channel, contact, and overall doping are also examined to clarify the corresponding doping roles. Finally, doping mechanisms, techniques, and dopants associated with OFET applications are reviewed. This paper promotes fundamental understanding of OFET doping for the development of high-performance OFETs with doped components.

Solution Processed Metal Oxide High-κ Dielectrics for Emerging Transistors and Circuits.

The electronic functionalities of metal oxides comprise conductors, semiconductors, and insulators. Metal oxides have attracted great interest for construction of large-area electronics, particularly thin-film transistors (TFTs), for their high optical transparency, excellent chemical and thermal stability, and mechanical tolerance. High-permittivity (κ) oxide dielectrics are a key component for achieving low-voltage and high-performance TFTs. With the expanding integration of complementary metal oxide semiconductor transistors, the replacement of SiO2 with high-κ oxide dielectrics has become urgently required, because their provided thicker layers suppress quantum mechanical tunneling. Toward low-cost devices, tremendous efforts have been devoted to vacuum-free, solution processable fabrication, such as spin coating, spray pyrolysis, and printing techniques. This review focuses on recent progress in solution processed high-κ oxide dielectrics and their applications to emerging TFTs. First, the history, basics, theories, and leakage current mechanisms of high-κ oxide dielectrics are presented, and the underlying mechanism for mobility enhancement over conventional SiO2 is outlined. Recent achievements of solution-processed high-κ oxide materials and their applications in TFTs are summarized and traditional coating methods and emerging printing techniques are introduced. Finally, low temperature approaches, e.g., ecofriendly water-induced, self-combustion reaction, and energy-assisted post treatments, for the realization of flexible electronics and circuits are discussed.

Promises, Challenges, and Recent Progress of Inorganic Solid-State Electrolytes for All-Solid-State Lithium Batteries.

All-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSLBs) have the potential to revolutionize battery systems for electric vehicles due to their benefits in safety, energy density, packaging, and operable temperature range. As the key component in ASSLBs, inorganic lithium-ion-based solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) have attracted great interest, and advances in SSEs are vital to deliver the promise of ASSLBs. Herein, a survey of emerging SSEs is presented, and ion-transport mechanisms are briefly discussed. Techniques for increasing the ionic conductivity of SSEs, including substitution and mechanical strain treatment, are highlighted. Recent advances in various classes of SSEs enabled by different preparation methods are described. Then, the issues of chemical stabilities, electrochemical compatibility, and the interfaces between electrodes and SSEs are focused on. A variety of research addressing these issues is outlined accordingly. Given their importance for next-generation battery systems and transportation style, a perspective on the current challenges and opportunities is provided, and suggestions for future research directions for SSEs and ASSLBs are suggested.